Find A Penny Pick It Up
by GrumpyBadger13
Summary: What if Sam didn't meet Meg hitch-hiking? What if he got tangled up with a girl named Penny instead? Penny is more like Sam than she knows; hell has plans for her. And hell plans on making those plans happen. Dean/OC Gabriel/OC
1. The 3 o Clock Bus

**I've just started to watch Supernatural, and I'm halfway through season 2 at the moment and I love it already! I decided to start this fic off in 1x11, because I thought that would be a good way to start it aha. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer; unfortunately, I own nothing you find familiar. The only thing I can claim is Penny, my OC.**

"You know," Penny sat down on the dusty floor of the bus station next to a sullen looking man, she paused a moment before turning her head to smile at him, "they say that the loneliest people can be the kindest."

Sam glanced at the smiling girl beside him before turning away again to stare at the timetable, "Is that what they say?"

"Pretty much. There's some other bit to it too, but for the life of me I can't quite remember it." She chimed as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Penny. And you are…?"

Sam paused while he studied her quickly; small, young, blonde. "It's Sam," He took her small hand in his large calloused one and gently shook. He let go and glanced at the timetable before looking back to her. "Not to sound rude or anything, but do you always strike up conversations with strangers?"

Penny grinned as Sam smirked at her curiously, "Not really, my Dad always taught me to stay well away from people I don't know. But he's not around so I'm kinda making the most of my freedom."

"Yeah don't I know the feeling." He snorted lightly, thinking of Dean.

Penny shifted uncomfortably as his mind wandered through past memories; she was guessing that they were in the same boat. "Run for freedom?" She guessed, pulling him out of his reverie.

"I guess you could say that." He took note of her confused expression and elaborated slightly, he was guessing that if he told her the truth; that he never really had any freedom because his family was in constant danger due to hunting supernatural beings, she might run in the opposite direction.

Sam slumped his shoulders, "My brother was always a little protective over me, we got into a fight over it and here I am." He raised his arms up dramatically and flashed a smile her way. "Sitting in a bus shelter, talking to a pretty girl."

Penny giggled as he carried on smiling, "Flattery! Flattery!" He joined in on her laughing, both of them revelling in the easiness of the conversation.

"So where you headed?" He asked casually, Penny frowned slightly before perking up again. A movement that didn't go unnoticed by Sam.

"Burkittsville." She stated. He quirked an eyebrow at her, wasn't that the town that Dean had that case in?

"Burkittsville?" He asked disbelievingly, "As in the town in Indiana?" He probed; he knew it was a small town so it was likely that she was just going to visit family. But didn't she say that she was 'making the most of her freedom'? Why would she go to see _family_ if she was enjoying the freedom from her Dad? It was too much of a coincidence for Sam that this girl just so happened to be headed for a small town that Dean had a case in. It was too unlikely, too much of a coincidence. And the one thing that his Dad had always taught him was that there was no such thing as coincidences.

He put a smile on again, this time though it was a bit more forced. "What takes you way out there?" He asked politely.

Penny panicked. His tone and body language changed. She watched him while he talked, as soon as she said the town's name his posture changed. His hands were palm side up, his arms and legs were uncrossed and his torso was leaning ever so slightly forward; he was trying to be honest, to be open. Well, two can play at that game, she thought.

She crossed her legs and leaned backward slightly before answering, "Family," Sam's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "It's my Aunts birthday, so I'm going to surprise her." She elaborated quickly. Too quickly for Sam's liking.

He smiled a tight lipped smile, "I thought you said you were 'making the most of your freedom'?"

He had her there. Thinking quickly, she decided it was time to turn the tables, she smiled sweetly. "You never said where you were headed Sam."

They were both smiled fake, tight smiles now. Forgetting completely how to be convincing, each only wanting to know what the other knew.

"California. To find my Dad."

"I thought you were making the most of your freedom?" She repeated his previous question while he faltered slightly.

"So did you."

It had become a stare down, each waiting for the other to break. To give away a sign, a tiny detail to tell the other what their intensions were. Penny decided to break the ice first; maybe she knew this guy and just couldn't remember. Or, even more likely, her sister knew him

"You never did tell me your last name you know Sam." She inquired skilfully.

Sam tensed, he had hundreds of fake last names that he'd used in the past, he could easily just use one of them. He swallowed before speaking. "Winchester. Sam Winchester."

Penny sat bolt upright and cocked her head to the side, watching Sam's face contort in confusion at her sudden action. Mentally Penny was piecing the pieces together; _a brother, missing father, no mention of mother, last name Winchester, and suspicious questions._ It couldn't be, could it?

She scooted closer to him, so close that their knees were touching. She narrowed her eyes and stared at him for a moment before speaking. "You're John Winchesters son." She breathed cautiously; she couldn't say anything more in case he was a civilian, if he was, then she had just made herself look completely insane. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and waited for his reaction.

"You know my Dad?" Sam asked quickly, Penny was delighted. She sat back on her legs and clasped her hands together jovially. She shook her head quickly before explaining.

"Not personally anyway, I know _of _him. Your family is very famous in the hunter community; my Dad never lets me forget the time he managed to snag a hunt with him. Your Dad, I mean." She gushed, Sam blinked as he took it all in. This girl knew about it, all of it, her Dad was a hunter, did that make her one too?

"So your Dad's a hunter too?" He asked quietly, his eyes flickering around the room for any eavesdrops.

She nodded slowly, "Yeah, raised me and my sister in the community too." She sat back down and crossed her legs, placing her head in her hands.

"Same here, although I bet you already knew that right?" He laughed teasingly; it felt good to have a genuine smile back on his face.

Penny chuckled, "Yeah I guess I did." Her chuckle was half hearted, the mention of her family brought that familiar twinge back to her chest. One that she hadn't missed at all.

Sam watched her silently, her face had grown cloudy since the mention of her family. Sam fiddled with his hands, looking at them as he spoke. "I bet your Dad and Sister miss you, you know." He didn't think it was his place to say anything, but it was clear as day to him that she missed them.

When he didn't receive a response he looked up nervously from his hands, he met the steady and expressionless face that looked older than it was. He stopped fidgeting.

"It's just me and my Dad now." She deadpanned.

"I'm sorry." He spoke from the heart, he meant it. God only knows what he'd be like if he ever lost his brother, and not knowing where his Dad was would be making the situation a hell of a lot worse.

Sam opened his mouth to speak when he heard his phone ring, he smiled apologetically at Penny before glancing at the caller I.D. _Dean._

He flipped the phone open, "Hello?"

"Hey Sammy, you doin' okay?" His brother spoke quickly down the phone.

"Yeah," Sam knew what he was calling for, "How's the case?"

Dean laughed humourlessly down the phone, "It's creepy man, a scarecrow is doing the killings. Climbs down off its cross. Not too sure how or why yet though, but I've got my suspicions."

Penny tilted her head in confusion at Sam who looked worried, he mouthed over to her 'Dean', who she could only assume was his brother. Nodding in understanding she watched him talk about what she assumed to be a case his brother was working on.

"Scarecrow climbed off its cross?" She heard him ask incredulously, she kept her ears open for any information he might give away. She was guessing that his brother was working the hunt that she was headed for; mentally cursing in her head she reached into her bag and began to scribble in her journal.

Sam watched Penny doodle in a book as he listened to Dean, "Yeah I'm tellin' ya, Berkittsville Indiana. Fun town."

"It didn't kill the couple did it?" His gaze held Penny's for a moment before she turned back to her doodling.

"No." Dean replied unsure, "I can't cope without you ya know"

Sam ignored him, "So something must be animating it…" He mused "A spirit."

"No it's more than just a spirit. It's a God, a Pagan God anyway." Penny watched as Sam leaned back against the pillar he was sat near. She'd folded her book and pen away neatly and turned her attention to the brother's conversation on the phone.

"What makes you say that?" He murmured.

Dean didn't miss a beat in answering, "The annual cycle. The general cycle of its killings, and the fact that its victims are always a man and a woman like some sort of fertility right." Dean took a breath before continuing, "Man you should see the locals, the way they treated this couple. Fattened them up like a Christmas turkey."

Sam shook his head in disbelief, "The last meal, given to sacrificial victims."

"Yeah I'm thinking some ritual sacrifice to appease some Pagan God."

"So a God possesses the scarecrow…" Sam started, trying to wrap his mind around the case.

"And the scarecrow takes its sacrifice. And for another year the crops won't wilt, and disease won't spread." Dean concluded for him.

Penny watched fascinated at how they bounced off of each other, even when they weren't together. Even though she could only hear one side of the conversation, you could just tell. It was a mirror image of the relationship her Dad and sister had. Her chest twitched again.

"Do you know which God you're dealing with?" She heard Sam whisper.

"Nope, not yet." Sam raised his eyebrow, that was a lot of help.

"Well when you figure out which one it is, then you can figure out a way to kill it."

"I know." Dean answered. "I'm actually on my way to a local community college, I've got a meeting with a Professor." Dean hesitated before adding on "You know, since I don't have my trusty sidekick, geek boy to do all the research."

Sam smiled and breathed a laugh, "You know, if you're hinting you need my help, just ask." He smiled slightly at the phone, even though he knew Dean couldn't see him. He heard the roar of the Impala engine in the background.

"I'm not hinting anything." Sam smiled even more, it was just like Dean to not ask for help. "Actually, uh…" He coughed. "I want you to know, I mean, don't think…"

Sam's smile dropped, "Yeah. I'm sorry too."

"Sam, you were right. You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life." He smiled in confusion at Deans words.

"You serious?"

"You've always known what you want, and you go after it. You stand up to Dad, and you always have. Hell I wish I…" Dean paused and glanced around, "Anyway, I admire that about you. I'm proud of you Sammy."

Sam was shocked, the Winchester men didn't do heart to hearts, they didn't do feelings. "I don't even know what to say."

"Say you'll take care of yourself." Dean answered easily.

"I will," Sam answered, still shell shocked from where the conversation had headed.

"Call me when you find Dad."

Sam nodded slowly, "Okay, bye Dean." Hearing that Dean had hung up he pulled the phone away from his ear and looked over at Penny who was watching him curiously.

"Everything okay?" She asked cautiously, she knew that the case must be going alright; otherwise he would have asked his brother to go back and help him. Smiling at her, he shook his head. Quickly realising his mistake he rectified it by nodding vigorously.

"Yeah, just didn't expect to hear some of that is all." Seeing him lean back and fold his hands she quickly made a decision to take a nap.

"Well I'm getting sleepy just sitting here." Sam quickly looked in her direction, he didn't mean to scare her off or make her leave.

"You don't have to leave I was just-"

"Calm it mister," Penny giggled when Sam stopped babbling. "I'm just going to take a nap." She smiled and laid her head to rest on her bag, her thoughts drifting from Sam and his brother to her own sister.

* * *

Penny woke to the snapping shut of a cell phone, opening her eyes and yawning she propped herself up against a pillar opposite Sam. Opening her mouth to speak she closed it again when she noticed a jacket draped over her. Her eyes looked up questioningly at Sam.

He smiled sheepishly before answering, "You looked cold."

Penny nodded and watched him. His fists kept balling up, his foot was tapping and his gaze flickered about constantly. She knew what was up, she'd had that feeling too many times to count. "He won't answer his phone, will he?"

Sam's head swivelled in her direction only to see her standing, his jacket draped over one arm and her bag slung lazily over the other. She held out his coat to him and began explaining.

"If he doesn't answer then we'll just have to go to him right?" She decided to try and be bold and take charge of the situation like her Dad would, Lord knew that Sam needed someone to tell him what to do right now. She knew that she would in his situation.

"_We?_" He asked as he stumbled to his feet clumsily, Penny opened her mouth to confirm but Sam beat her to it. "Oh no, I'm not putting you in danger. Who knows what Dean's got himself into and if you-"

"I'm a hunter too, in case you forgot. Born and raised as one. Like you." She watched in humour as his mouth flailed open and closed like a fish as he searched for a reason for her not to go with him.

"And besides," She added as Sam picked up his bags, "I was already heading there, wasn't I?" She spoke confidently and flashed him a cheeky grin. Sam half smiled at her as she turned on her heel and headed into the parking lot.

She stopped abruptly and turned back to face him, her expression went from serious to her mouth hanging open with her eyes bulging out of her head. Sam shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, "What?"

She shook herself out of it and just murmured, "You're just taller than I expected." Sam laughed loudly at the absurdness given the situation.

"You're shorted than I expected." He chuckled.

Blushing, she quickly pushed on. "How are we going to get there? We can't walk it, and the next bus isn't for hours."

She was right, by the time they caught the bus it might be too late, so walking was out of the question too. It had to be at least 30 miles out from here; maybe more. He had to think fast, every second he wasted could be Deans last. He couldn't have his brother's blood on his hands. The only thing he could think of was _'what would Dean do?'_

He got his answer when his gaze landed on a worn red Chevy pick-up truck. He turned mischievously to Penny.

"Have you ever hot-wired a car?" He questioned quickly.

She followed his gaze to the truck and looked back up at him, an equally mischievous smile plastered on her face. "What kind of girl do you take me for?"

**So what do you think? Please leave me a review, I'm trying really hard with this so I hope it's paid off! :)**


	2. The Scarecrow

**Hey guys! I'd just like to thank Carver Edlund, FreedomWriter15, Mystic Vampyre and mcgonagiggles for reviewing, favourite-ing and following. I hope you guys like!**

Dean whipped his head around furiously, trying every which way to see if the damned scarecrow had come down off its cross yet. He turned his head towards Emily; her body was sagged and shoulders slumped in defeat. He hated the fact that he couldn't get them out of the situation. Hated the thought that Sam might be left alone in the world.

Dean shook his head and mentally berated himself for thinking such thoughts, he couldn't afford it. Not with their Dad still missing. He yanked one more time on the rope that held him to the tree.

"So what's the plan?" She sniffed, putting her emotions aside. She had to get out of this alive, even if there was nothing left to go back to.

He was hoping she'd stay quiet, too busy pulled in on herself to bother with him. It was just his luck to get the opposite.

"I'm working on it." He replied, raising an eyebrow as he did.

* * *

"You sure this is the right way?" Penny asked cautiously, she knew better than to question someone who was desperate, but Sam didn't seem all so sure either in his silent answer.

She decided not to go down the whole 'he's going to be okay' road with him, she knew better than anyone how much it hurt when it wasn't. So she stayed quiet. She watched the road ahead lazily, resting her head against head against the window she began to count the stars; tracing the constellations she could see with her fingertip.

Sam watched her out of the corner of his eye. She had baggage, like his family did. Hell, like every hunting family did. But she seemed so at peace with it; she was sat there, looking up at the stars. Completely resigned to the fact of life.

He shifted slightly in his seat, "Why..." He shuffled again, "Why haven't you told me it's going to be okay yet?" He felt stupid for asking, he probably sounded stupid too. She lifted her head from the window and turned to faced him, looking at his side profile in the moonlight before answering. His brows were furrowed together in confusion or worry, maybe even both.

"'Cause it's one thing to say, everything will be okay…And quite another thing to believe it…Sometimes words just aren't enough Sam."

Sam glanced and smiled at her gratefully, and set his eyes back on the road. Satisfied, Penny turned back to the stars.

* * *

Emily heard an owl hoot overhead, she watched as her breath came out in front of her like smoke. "You don't have a plan, do you?" It'd been at least an hour since they'd been tied up in the orchard, and her arms were starting to lose their feeling.

Dean grimaced, "I'm working on it." He repeated.

"Can you see?" He pulled once again, swinging his head from side to side to try and glimpse the figure.

"What?"

"Is he moving yet?" He watched as she craned her neck to get a better look.

Her chest heaved, "I can't see."

She tensed. Twigs and leaves crunched under feet as the noise came sweeping towards them, Dean struggled desperately against his bindings while Emily released new tears upon her already damp cheeks.

"Oh my God!" She gasped, "Oh my God! He's here!" She cried desperately.

Dean struggled against the ropes. There was no way he was going to die here, not over apple pie. No way -

"Dean?"

Dean stopped struggling in shock and turned his head to the right to see Sam and a young girl standing in the middle of them.

"Huh? Ohh, I take everything back. I'm so happy to see you" Dean breathed as Sam moved towards his brother, untying his restraints as quickly as his numb fingers would allow.

"Come on," Dean rushed

"I've got the girl, don't worry." Penny called over her shoulder. She studied the girls face as she untied her, she could hear the brothers speaking quickly, and the distress on the girls face was evident.

As she worked the last knot, she overheard snippets of the other two's conversation.

"What? You mean she just tagged along with you? How did you get here anyway?" Dean whispered harshly, talking low so that the two women couldn't hear. The scarecrow was still on the cross, for now at least anyway.

He faced Sam and waited for an answer.

"We uh, we stole a car." He sputtered out quietly, turning to glance quickly at his new friend. The girl was finally free, and they began to make their way over to the two.

Dean laughed heartily, "Haha! That's my boy!" He cheered and clapped his little brother on the back.

Sam turned back to Dean quickly, "Dean, please be nice okay? She's a hunter too, she can help. Plus, her Dad knows our Dad so she could be helpful in finding him." Sam begged quietly, he knew that his brother would never agree to work with other hunters; he was too much like his Dad in that sense. But if it meant that they could find their father quicker then he might just take the bait and let her tag along, for a while at least anyway.

Dean eyed up the girl in question quickly; she was slender, blonde hair, petite. She didn't look anything like a hunter, too pretty to be a hunter. "Fine." Sam sighed in relief. "But when all this is over, the three of us are having a little chat about Da-"

Emily screamed and fell backwards as a metal sickle came hurtling towards her. Penny pulled her backwards instinctively, the hook just grazing her jumper.

"Hello to you too sunshine!" She shouted over her shoulder as the scarecrow took off after them into the woods. Emily pulled her behind an apple tree in attempt to hide, covering their mouths with her hands.

Penny pushed her hand away, turning to face the frightened girl. "We need to move we can't stay here he'll find us!"

Emily shook her head harshly as fresh tears pooled in her eyes, the fear of dying finally taking over.

"We've gotta go find Sam and Dean, they know more about this than-"

She stopped and let out a small squeak when she felt a firm hand grasp her shoulder. Spinning quickly she pushed her palm upwards into the scarecrows nose; knocking him backwards.

"Let's go!" She shouted at Emily, grabbing her hand and pulling her forward with her, only to be tugged back by the girl. Penny turned to remind her again that they needed to find the brothers when they were stood with Emily at the tree; Dean holding a bloodied nose.

Sam watched as the pieces clicked together in Penny's mind, and her face turned scarlet in embarrassment. Her shock didn't last long though, her face soon grew serious once again.

"Look, I'm sorry I hit you. But I'll apologize properly later but for now can we-HEY!"

Dean lunged forward and knocked her backwards, landing slightly on top of her. Looking up at the scarecrow that was ready to throw the hook at them again, he pulled the woman over him and dragged her up.

Dean grabbed her wrist and ran off in the direction Sam had taken Emily.

"Guess now we're even." He panted as they reunited in a clearing.

"What now? How do we get rid of it?" Emily cried while the other three exchanged worried glances. No one spoke.

Dean decided to step up, "There's gotta be an old tree or something right? If we're in the middle of an apple orchard, the thing they're using to keep it here has to be a tree of some sort?" Sam nodded silently.

"I guess, but Dean we're surrounded by trees, how are we going to know which one?" Sam inquired testily, he glanced around; no sign of the scarecrow. "Why don't we search for it in the morning? I'm sure Emily here doesn't want to stick around here any longer than necessary."

Penny watched as Dean turned his eyes to the teen, she nodded solemnly, the night seeming to have caught up with her. She smiled a warm smile at her.

"How about we go get a nice hot chocolate at a hotel huh? It's Emily, isn't it?" A small smile tugged at her lips while she fidgeted with the hem of her jumper. Penny nodded, "Well that's settled then."

"Not quite."

"Uncle?" Emily whispered before finding her voice. "How could you do this to me? I'm family! _Your family!_" She stressed.

There were at least 8 others surrounding them from all sides, each carrying a flaming torch.

"We had no choice Em, we had to make a sacrifice for the town. I didn't want to-" He choked on his words, emotion sweeping over him like a tidal wave.

The older woman looked at them all slowly. Sam eyed the townsfolk and pulled Penny over to stand in-between him and Dean slowly, as to not attract too much attention.

"Please, please! Uncle, please! Let us go!" She begged.

"The need of the many outweighs the need of a few." Everyone's gaze fell to the Aunt, the words cut through her like knives. The woman that had raised her, homed her, loved her; had turned against her.

Penny watched helplessly as the girl broke down in front of them. "But I'm your niece. Your flesh and blood! I- I loved you!"

"And we love you sweetheart," Penny cringed into one of the Winchesters side when he spoke those words, she wasn't sure who it was, but she felt a reassuring arm placed around her.

"But the Vanir has to have its sacrifices, if it doesn't the town will die. It'll wither away into nothing, there are too ma-"

A hook appeared through the Uncles chest, the women screamed and the men tensed. The scarecrow removed the sickle and used it to slice the Aunts throat before embedding it back into the Uncles ankle, dragging his victims away.

"Guess he wasn't too picky after all." The chest next to her head rumbled, and Penny placed the voice as Deans. She looked up from under his arm at him before ducking out and standing beside them.

She hit him gently on the forearm, "Be polite." She chastised quietly, as they began to walk back towards the cars.

* * *

"You sure about this?" She asked Emily before they headed outside to meet the brothers.

After the scene last night, Penny agreed to follow the two men back to a hotel nearby in the stolen car. She shared a room with Emily, who spent the most of the night in silence.

She nodded mutely and walked out the door. Sighing, she grabbed her bag and followed her out, dropping the keys off at the reception first.

Sam opened the rear door for Emily, who thanked him politely before settling herself in the backseat of the Impala. Sam smiled sadly and shut the door. They watched as Penny walked out towards the car, eyeing them suspiciously.

They hadn't talked yet about whether she was going with them or not, and she could sense that there was an uneasiness about the situation.

"Shall I take the mystery machine then?" She laughed, gesturing behind her to the only other vehicle in the car park; which just so happened to resemble the van remarkably.

Sam sideways glanced at Dean, it was his call.

He watched her, before nodding to her. "Get in; I get to choose the music though. None of this girly crap people listen to now 'a days." He slid into the driver seat and looked in the rear view mirror, making sure that they were ready.

Dean glanced humourlessly at his little brother, "What?" He inquired.

Sam smiled, proud of his brother for letting someone in instead of turning them away. He knew how hard it must have been, especially after all that their Dad had taught them.

"Nothing." He chuckled and watched the passing trees.

* * *

"It's over here," They all followed Emily in silence, each carrying a tank of gasoline.

"Scared last night?" Dean asked quietly, watching the blonde woman as she looked up at him mockingly.

"Me? Scared? Ha!" She snorted lightly.

He chuckled, his eyes scanning the woods out of habit. "I guess you just fancied a cuddle then last night when the old man was talking then, huh?" A smirk grew quickly on his face, remembering how she coward from an old man but called a pagan God 'sunshine'.

"I wasn't scared of him, it was just what he was saying, and that's all." She shrugged, effectively ending the conversation. Dean took the hint and carried on walking beside her silently.

"This is it." Emily announced. Before them stood an ancient looking apple tree, with intricate carvings all around it; to trap and keep the God there no doubt. She took the first tankard of gasoline from Sam and poured it over the tree.

After a few moments Penny walked forward to do the same, and soon after Dean did too.

He offered the match box to Emily, she should do it. She'd lost her family, if she could ever call them that again. No doubt that she'd want to be the one to end it.

The walk back to the car was silent, save for a few sniffles from Emily. The car ride to the bus station was just as bad. They said goodbye to the girl singularly, she explained that she planned to head to Boston to stay with some friends. Lord knew that she needed some friends right now.

The trio watched in silence as her bus disappeared around the corner. Penny sighed and jumped around to face the other two, a bright smile on her freckled face.

"What now then?" She asked, pulling a lollipop from her jeans pocket as she did so.

Sam and Dean made their way to their car doors and opened them before turning back to her. Dean eyed Sam up, signalling that he wanted to have a bit of fun.

"I dunno, me and Dean are gonna go find my Dad..." Sam tailed off, trying his best to look serious and keep the laughter from spilling over.

"Yeah...It's kind of a Winchester thing..." Dean watched as she pretended that her face didn't drop in disappointment, her lollipop sticking out of the side of her mouth.

"But I guess you can tag along, seeing as you're such a bad influence on Sammy." They laughed as her face lit up like a child's on Christmas as she jumped into the back seat.

"You guys, are simply awesome. Truly." Dean chuckled as he switched the engine on, he heard her mumble something quietly over the engine.

"What did you say sweetheart? Can't hear you over my baby purring." He grinned while Sam shook his head and started the laptop up.

Penny scoffed, "I said, can I make a request?" Dean went to tell her the rules when she quickly butted in ahead of him. "Can we put Black Sabbath on?" Her eyes flickered between the two brothers, waiting for a reaction.

Dean fist pumped the air and put it into drive, before speeding off out of the bus terminal.

**I'm still getting used to the idea of so many changing scenes and people, so bear with me while I get a feel for these characters :) Also, I'd like to know whether you think I should do each episode, or skip some and carry it on like that. LET ME KNOW LOVELIES! I hope you liked it, please remember to review and let me know how I'm doing! ^^**


	3. Nightmare

**Hi guys! I was reading back over the last chapter I posted and I didn't feel comfortable with it, so I've decided to scrap it and move in a different direction, hope you guys understand.**

**So I was looking at the story stats and…This stories been viewed by 212 people. TWO HUNDRED AND TWELVE. And only 5 of you have reviewed. I don't want to sound whiny, because I'm not, but hearing feedback makes my day, or even those little emails you get when people favourite your story or follow you; they make me smile to. I just feel a bit like there's no point in writing something that nobody wants to read :/**

**I dunno. I've had a pretty bad day so I'm probably just being weird. Love you all, hope you enjoy.**

"Pen." The spider said quickly, "Penny, Penny!" It's voice was urgent, but it still retained its happy features as it danced with her.

"Time to wake up sleeping beauty!" It said, her face contorted in confusion as the room began to shake, everyone was screaming as the floor gave way from underneath them and they were plunged into darkness.

Pennys eyes flashed open to see Dean standing above her, wide eyed and panicked. She sat up groggily, "What's up?" She whispered before looking at the alarm clock. Her eyes widened as the clock read 3:14am.

Dean started to speak but was cut off by a furious Penny who began to attack him with playful slaps, "Are you out of your mind Winchester?" She hit him around the arm "It's 3 in the morning and you're waking me up? Do you have a death wish?!" Dean chuckled and grabbed her wrists, pulling her towards him he crossed her arms to restrain her.

"Sam had a dream, we gotta go." He explained quickly.

Penny yawned, "I had a dream too but that don't mean-"

Dean grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the hotel and into the car; he didn't have time for this right now, not according to Sam anyway.

"So Sam had a dream and now we're doing what?" She asked exasperatedly, Dean was speeding while Sam searched for an address on his laptop. She was still in her Pyjamas, if they could even be called that. See, like they boys, she liked to feel 'free' when she slept.

Hence why she was sitting in the back of the Impala in nothing but her pants and one of the boys tee shirts.

"They're not just dreams, they're like visions. I can see things before they happen." Sam sighed, he didn't want her to know but he knew that she'd find out sooner or later. Penny un-crossed her legs and sat forward slowly.

She bit her lip, "You can?" Sam nodded.

"It happened with my girlfriend, Jess. And a case we had with a woman who was living in our old house; it's a long story meant for another time." He said flippantly while he typed a number into his cell and hit call.

She sat backwards and digested the information. _Visions._ He could see peoples deaths, like some sort of superhero or something…Or like…

Her eyes flicked up to Sam, he was 23, same age as her. There was no mention of their mother, so she assumed she was dead; Could she have? She twizzled her fingers and deliberated about asking, wouldn't it seem rude to ask?

She sprung forward and placed her hands on each of their shoulders, wishing that she had a shot for some liquid courage.

"Penny what's-"

"I know I'm probably going to sound _completely _crazy and insane right now but if by any chance I don't then well, that's great." She breathed and continued. "Did your mom happen to die in a fire in your nursery when you were exactly 6 months old? And then did you hypothetically start getting these weird things happen to you about 9 months ago, which I'm guessing for you is these visions that you're having? And do you get some creepy guy with yellow eyes speak to you in your dreams?" By the stunned silence, and the shock written on their faces she took that as a yes.

"Now I understand if you want to dump me at the side of the road but-"

Sam spun around so fast that his neck hurt, Deans jaw locked.

"You get them too? It's not just me?" Sam asked quickly, piecing the puzzle together.

Penny shook her head slowly and Dean gripped the steering wheel tighter, "You ever think about telling me that yellow eyes was mind raping your dreams?" He growled.

Penny turned her head to look at him, "I didn't want you two to think I'm a nutter and leave me! And besides, he hasn't visited for months thank God! Regardless, why do I have to tell you?!" She spat.

Dean turned his head slightly to glare at her, "I just don't like the thought of_ him_ messing with your head!"

"Penny," Sam said calmly, trying to bring the conversation back to where they were. "What can you do?" He asked gently, her eyes grew scared and her eyebrows knitted together; She pulled her knees up to her chest.

"I'm not a monster, I promise." She spoke quietly, her voice quivering.

Sam smiled gently, "Neither of us are." Penny smiled at him and glanced worriedly at Dean.

Sam's phone began to ring; Penny nodded as he flipped the phone open.

"Hello? Yeah I'm here….Jim Miller. Saginaw, Michigan. You have a street address?...Got it. Thanks." Sam hung up the phone and turned back around to speak to Penny again, but she looked to be fast asleep.

"She sleeping?" Dean asked quietly, Peering over at Sam.

"Yeah, why didn't she say anything to us before?" He queried quietly.

Dean shrugged, "Maybe the same reason we didn't tell her. We didn't need to know yet." Sam sighed, his brother was right. They sat in silence for a while as she slept in the back, a thought was bugging Sam, a thought that he had to voice.

"It makes you wonder though," He looked over at Dean, "how many more of us are out there?"

Dean kept his eye on the road while he pondered the question, he didn't like the thought of it. He put his foot down and sped into the night.

* * *

Penny awoke to whispering voices, voices that were slowly growing louder. She sat up in her seat, a leather jacket that she recognised as Deans was draped over her, she pulled it on and sat forward again.

"I'm telling you Dean, I watched it happen. He was murdered by something. It trapped him in the garage and killed him."

"What, like a spirit?" Dean asked as he started the engine.

"Or a poltergeist?" She threw in, they both turned around to face her. Dean smiled inwardly at her appearance; her hair was still messy from sleeping, and she had one of his tee shirts on with a pair of Sam's socks. She'd pulled his jacket on and snuggled into it on the back seat.

"Good morning to you too princess." He smirked before pulling away from the scene to find a hotel.

Penny snorted, "Morning? It's still bed time." She huffed. "So what did you find out anyway?"

"We were too late." Penny squirmed, "They're pinning it down as suicide. But obviously, we know better." Sam smiled in disgust and looked at the address again.

"So that's it? Nothing else? Nothing weird about him?"

Dean saw a sign for a hotel and headed for it, "Nothing." A smirk appeared on his face, "Apart from the fact that you have lacy red panties – OW!" Penny hit him and sat back flustered.

"Pervert." She murmured under her breath.

"Hey, when you sleep with that cute butt of yours stuck in the air, you can't blame me for looking." He defended.

Sam made gagging noises while Dean laughed, "Just let me out here, I'll walk to the hotel." He groaned out, Dean just laughed harder and sped up.

* * *

"We'll be back soon okay, just, stay out of trouble." Dean spoke quickly as he walked out of the bathroom; Penny nodded and tried to suppress her laugh.

"What?" Dean inquired cheerfully, knowing exactly what she found so funny. Penny looked him over one more time before bursting out into a fit of laughter.

"Oh my, you're probably the _worst_ person to imitate a priest!" She laughed harder, clutching at her belly as she fell backwards onto the bed.

"Junior Priest, I'll have you know," He said seriously, a smile plastered on his face. "But whatever, laugh all you want. We'll be back in a bit." And with that he walked out of the door.

Penny quickly sobered up from her laughing fit when she heard the door shut, she had a few hours to kill, and what with all the research already done she had nothing to occupy herself with.

Her eyes flashed over to the cell sitting on the bedside table, standing up she walked over to it and punched the number in quickly. It was ringing.

"Hello?" A gruff voice sounded from the other end. Tears pricked at her eyes when she heard the voice. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

"Hi daddy." She whispered, the man's breath hitched.

"Penelope?"

"Yeah its me," She sniffed as a tear escaped.

"Sweetheart it's so good to hear from you, where are you? Are you safe?" Penny began to pace around the room in her socks, her fingers picking at her thumb.

"Yeah Dad I'm fine, I'm with some friends just doing some odd jobs. You know how it is." She tried to laugh but it didn't sound right, it sounded forced.

"You gonna give me any names kiddo?" She shook her head.

"Nope, you taught me that."

The man sighed, "Yeah I did didn't I?" There was a pause, "Can you at least tell me where you are?"

She could tell him, couldn't she? There was no harm in that. She closed her eyes. "California." She lied, "It's lovely and sunny, too hot for me though. You know what I'm like when I get too hot." She laughed dryly.

"Yeah." There was another awkward silence. Penny sat down on Sam's bed, "You know you can come back if you want, I'm not mad anymore I'm just scared for you that's all."

Penny bit down on her fist to stop the sobs from escaping, she couldn't go back. She couldn't put him in danger, not after Mellissa. Not after that. "You know I can't do that." She gasped.

"Then what did you ring for?" He asked harshly, "If you're not coming back, then why did you ring? To see if I'm still alive? To check up on me? What Penny, cause this is killing me kid. Not knowing if you're alive. It's killin' me." The dam broke as the tears and sobs began to flow freely, she couldn't hold them back any longer.

"I'll see you later dad, I love you." She cried.

"Penelo-" She shut the phone and threw it on the floor. Her sobs racked her body as she curled up into the fetal position on the bed, her crying gently rocking her to sleep.

* * *

"I'm tellin' you, there's nothing in there. There's no signs either, just like the Millers house." Dean shoved his hands in his pockets as they walked back to the car.

Sam shook his head, "I saw something in the vision, like a dark shape. Something was stalking Roger."

"Well, whatever it was we can be sure it's not connected to their house." Dean opened the car door and leant on the roof.

"No, it's connected to the family itself. So, what do you think we've got? A vengeful spirit?" They stepped into the car and paused for a moment, both of them thinking about their father and what he would do.

"Hey, you think Max is in danger?" Sam asked wearily.

Dean started the engine, "Let's figure it out before he is."

"Well I know one thing I have in common with these people."

Dean turned his head to look at Sam slightly confused, "Yeah? What's that then?"

"Both our families are cursed." Sam smiled slightly out of the corner of his mouth while Deans mouth opens and closes like a fishes.

"Our family isn't cursed. We just….had our dark spots." Sam laughed heartily at his choice of words.

Sam chuckled, "Our dark spots are pretty dark."

Dean looked over at Sam, "You're—Dark."

Dean and Sam pull into the hotel car park and quickly notice that the lights are off in their room. Dean locked the car and followed Sam up the stairs towards the room.

"You reckon she's asleep?" Sam asked as he pulled the key out of his pocket, fiddling with the lock he pushed the door open and walked in. Dean set his jaw and placed his hand over his gun.

"Dean get the lamp," Sam whispered, soon the room was bathed in low lighting.

Dean relaxed when he saw her curled up peacefully on Sam's bed, clutching a pillow. "Think we should wake her?" He asked as he kicked his boots off.

Sam sat down on a chair and shook his head. "No let her sleep, she can come with us to the Miller house tomorrow as a Nun in practice or something…" Sam fluffed the pillows on the sofa and pulled a blanket out of a cupboard.

Dean turned off the lamp and settled into bed, "Yeah I bet she was bored stiff here all day by herself…" He mumbled.

"Hey Dean?" Sam whispered into the darkness.

Dean closed his eyes, "What?"

"You reckon yellow eyes is after us? Me and Penny I mean. If she's been getting dreams about him…" Dean opened his eyes to look over at the sleeping woman on the opposite bed; she looked so peaceful in her sleep.

"Doesn't matter, he's not getting either of you."

Sam didn't speak again, and the thought of them being hunted by this demon made Deans head spin. There must be a reason for all this, for their 'talents'. Dean wasn't going to take any chances, he promised that he'd protect Sammy, and now he was going to protect Penny too.

* * *

Penny laughed at her reflection as she twirled in her nun outfit, she stepped out of the bathroom to see the boys dressed in their costumes too.

"You know the last time I was dressed as a nun, it wasn't one like this." She chuckled as the memories rushed back to her.

"Naughty nun, huh?" Dean asked nonchalantly, a dirty smirk on his face.

Penny slapped him around the back of the head. "You will never know!" She laughed victoriously as they shuffled towards the car, Dean rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

"My mom's resting, she's pretty wrecked." Max said as he led them into the living room, Penny took a seat in-between the two 'priests' and Max sat opposite them.

"That's understandable." Penny spoke, Max turned to look at her so she offered him her best smile. He didn't look convinced.

"Who did you say you are again?" He asked cautiously.

Penny panicked, _think of a name. Just any name._ She smiled wider, "Sister Mary Joseph."

He smile wavered slightly when she realised what she just said, she began to panic, as if he was going to believe that. As if-

"Do you want anything to drink?" Man offered, Sam smiled graciously before getting up to help him bring them in.

Dean turned to Penny quickly after they'd left. "Sister Mary Joseph? You wanna put on an Irish accent too?"

"I panicked!" She whispered harshly, "As if you've never panicked before!"

"I never panicked and named myself after something that grows in bellybuttons!" He shot back.

Penny looked at him bewildered, "What are you-"

"I hope grapefruit juice is okay," Max said as he set the drinks down on the table. Penny and Dean turned from each other to face Max.

"Oh I love grapefruit juice, thank you." She gushed as she took the glass offered to her and took a sip.

"So, how you holding up?" Sam asked.

"I'm okay." He responded, looking over at Penny every now and then.

"Your Dad and your Uncle were close?" Dean noticed his gaze flickering over occasionally, of which Penny seemed to be unaware of.

Penny just kept drinking her grapefruit juice, relishing in the taste that reminded her so much of her childhood; of Mellissa. A lump formed in her throat as she drank some more.

"Good. That's good. Well, you must be exhausted. We should take off." Dean stood with Sam, he took Penny's glass from her hand and placed it on the table before proceeding to take her hand in his and walk towards the door.

"Right…" Sam stammered as he watched his brother lead her out the house. "Thanks."

Sam quickly caught up with Dean and Penny who were stood outside on the porch, Dean keeping his grip on her hand.

"What was that about?" Penny asked as they began to walk towards the car, "Oh and by the way, you can let go now. Doggie's had enough of her walk for today." She bit out hotly.

Dean took no notice and kept a hold of her, "He was looking at you weird. Like he knew something."

"Yeah well if he didn't suspect something before he sure as hell does now!" Sam shouted as they piled into the car.

"So?" He asked guiltily.

"So? Dean the kid has probably guessed that we're fakes by now! What are we going to do if we need-"

"I'm not risking any of our asses for an information source!" He yelled back.

Penny pulled the headpiece off and shimmied out of her nun dress, leaving her in jeans and a blouse.

"You two go check out the old neighbourhood, see if anyone remembers anything. I'll stay here and watch the house and kid okay?" She spoke confidently while they glared at each other, holding a silent conversation.

"I'll take that as an 'Ok'." She stepped out of the car and began to walk around the block, Dean pulled the Chevy up beside her.

"Be careful ok? We'll ring you when we're on our way back." Sam gave her a cell phone that she pocketed, nodding she waved as they drove off.

* * *

Sam and Dean stood in front of an old house on the street that Max used to live on. It looked like any average neighbourhood, quiet. Perfect for a family.

"Hey, excuse me!" Sam shouted over to a man raking his lawn, they walked over as he stood up to look at them. "Have you lived in the neighbourhood very long?"

The man leaned on his rake, "Yeah, almost twenty years now. It's nice and quiet. Why, you lookin' to buy?" He asked and motioned to the house across the street.

"No, no. We were actually wondering if you recall a family that used to live right across the street I believe." He smiled.

"Yeah, the Millers. They had a little boy named Max." Dean added.

"Right." Sam watched as the mans face grew sombre.

"Yeah I remember. The brother had a place next door." His looked worried, "Why what's this about? Is the poor kid okay?" He questioned quickly. Sam looked at Dean out of the corner of his eye.

"What do you mean?" Sam probed.

He sighed, "Well, in my life, I've never seen a child treated like that. I mean, I'd hear Mr Miller yellin' and throwin' things clear across the street. He was a mean drunk. He used to beat the tar out of Max. Bruises – broke his arm two times that I know of."

Sam swallowed in disgust, "And this was going on regularly?"

"Practically every day." Dean looked down, revolt on his features. "In fact, that thug brother of his was just as likely to take a swing at the boy, but the worst part was the step mother." Dean looked over at Sam. "She'd just stand there, checked out, never lifted a finger to protect him. I must have called the police seven or eight times, never did any good though."

"Now, you said stepmother?" He asked.

The neighbour nodded, "I think the real mom died. Some sort of accident- a car accident, I think." He looked at Sam funny, "Are you okay there son?" Dean looked at Sam who was clutching his head in pain. _Another vision._

"Yeah," Sam said painfully.

"Thanks for your time." Dean added as he helped Sam back to the car. Sam just stood there, a terrified look on his face as another vision played out in front of him.

_Mrs Miller was chopping vegetables with tears in her eyes, "I don't know what you mean by that. You know I never did anything." She placed the carrots into a pot._

_A distraught Max stalks forward, "That's right. You didn't do anything. You didn't stop them, not once!" Max glared at her as the knife moved from the chopping board to levitate in the air._

"_How did you-?" The knife flew through the air as she pined herself against the wall, the knife pointing itself directly in front of her eye, barely a centimetre away. "Max please!"_

_The back door swung open as Penny barrelled in, "Max stop! You don't want to do this!"_

_Max turned to look at her, the knife still by his stepmothers eye. "Oh don't I? You don't understand. THEY BEAT ME! And she!" He looked at the pinned woman murderously, "She just watched."_

"_I'm sorry!" She cried, tears rolled down her red cheeks._

"_No you're not," He laughed bitterly, "You just don't want to die." Penny watched as the knife pulled back and lunged forward, right through Mrs Millers head. _

_Max just stood there, shocked for a moment before turning to a sickened Penny._

"_And you," She looked up at him, "You really need to improve on your acting skills." He laughed._

"_Max listen, I'm like you. I can do thing, just like you can." Max stopped laughing and looked at her, "This all started about 9 months ago, am I right?" She asked desperately while she edged closer to him._

_He nodded warily, "How did you-"_

"_And after that you could do things, things you've never been able to do before?" She edged closer again until she was inches from him. _

_Max nodded again, and watched as a knife hovered behind her head. "That's the same with me." She smiled, fear shook her voice as she reached out to put her hand on him. As soon as her hand touched his arm strong psychic electrical currents flowed from her palm and into Max._

_He convulsed and the knife flew through the air, lodging itself neatly in the back of Penny's head. She dropped silently to the floor._

Sam sat in the car as Dean put it into drive. "Max is doing it. Dean you've gotta drive faster he's going to kill them!" Sam shouted as the car sped up.

"What? Kill who?" Dean demanded quickly as they swerved around a corner.

"The step mom! Penny bursts in and he kills the step mom, and then Penny touches him and, and I dunno she just touches him and it's like he's being electrocuted!" Sam swallowed thickly. "And that's when the knife flies into her head. She's going to die Dean."

Dean didn't need any more than that, he shoved his foot down and tried to swallow the sick feeling that was rising in his stomach.

**PLEASE REVIEW! :) **


	4. Nightmare Pt 2

**I'd just like to quickly say a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed or alerted to this story, you're all amazing! I'm sorry I've taken ages to update, I've been really busy with college work. In regards to when Gabriel will be joining the fray, it will be soon-ish. I want to try and introduce him around about the same time he gets introduced in the TV show timeline. And as to whether the Dean/OC will be the Gabe/OC, well...You'll just have to wait and see ;)**

_"The step mom! Penny bursts in and he kills the step mom, and then Penny touches him and, and I dunno she just touches him and it's like he's being electrocuted!" Sam swallowed thickly. "And that's when the knife flies into her head. She's going to die Dean."_

_Dean didn't need any more than that, he shoved his foot down and tried to swallow the sick feeling that was rising in his stomach._

* * *

Mrs Miller was chopping vegetables with tears in her eyes, "I don't know what you mean by that. You know I never did anything." She placed the carrots into a pot.

A distraught Max stalks forward, "That's right. You didn't do anything. You didn't stop them, not once!" Max glared at her as the knife moved from the chopping board to levitate in the air.

"Max! Max open the door!" Penny shouted from outside, as the knife clattered to the floor Mrs Miller rushed to the backdoor to let her in.

"Sister, what brings you here?" Mrs Miller asks with relief lining her shaky voice.

Smiling, Penny takes note of the fallen knife on the floor. She quickly looked back up at Mrs Miller. "Oh, I thought I heard a commotion as I was taking a leisurely walk through the neighbourhood. I uh-"

"Ahh, sorry to interrupt." Penny looked over to see Sam and Dean stood in the archway to the kitchen, "Max, could we talk with you outside for just a second?" Sam asked quickly as he too noticed the knife on the floor.

"About what?" Max's eyes narrowed on the two brothers.

"It's…It's private." Penny offered as she stepped towards the duo, "Yeah, and we wouldn't want to bother your mother with it." Sam continued before turning to face Mrs Miller apologetically. "We won't be long at all though, I promise." He finished while flashing a smile.

The four of them turn for the door with Max trailing behind, Penny smiled encouragingly at Max while he just glared back. Affronted, she stuck her tongue out at his back. Everything after that happened very quickly. Dean pulled the door shut and smiled at Max, while his arm was raised the butt of his gun was visible to Max in the hallway mirror. The doorknob was wreched from Deans hands as the blinds and doors slam shut.

Penny stared at Max as he began to back up, "You're not priests!"

She watched as Dean began to draw his gun, only for it to be knocked out of his hands and slide across the room to Max.

"Woah hold on there-" Penny began rushing forward as he picked up the gun and pointed at her. She stopped in her tracks and slowly raised her hands.

"Who are you people?" He bit out, the gun still trained on Penny.

Dean looked to Sam, "We just wanna talk."

"Yeah right! That's why you brought this!" He shouted back with tears forming in his eyes and his rage building.

"That was a mistake all right? So was lying about who we are. But no more lying Max ok? Just please, hear me out." Sam made to move forward slowly, but Max moved the gun to point at him instead.

"About what?"

"I saw you do it," Max's eyes widened, "I saw you kill your Dad and your Uncle before it happened. I'm having visions Max, about you."

Max began shaking his head violently, "You're crazy!"

Sam took a step forward. "So what, you weren't going to launch a knife at your step mom?" Sam taps his eye, "Or kill Penny when she tried to stop you?" Penny's eyes glazed over while he finished talking. "Is it hard to believe Max, look what you can do. Max I was drawn here alright? I think I'm here to help you."

"No one can help me!" He cried as his shoulders began to shake with his sobs.

Dean had been slowly moving towards where Sam and Penny where standing. Knowing how Sam felt about the situation he opted to keep out of the conversation, reaching out low he grasped Pennys wrist and pulled her backwards lightly. Her eyes looked at him questioningly as he moved to stand slightly in front of her; all while keeping his focus on the situation at hand.

"Let me try, we'll talk, me and you. We'll get Dean, Alice and Penny out of here-"

"Uh-huh. No way." Dean glared at Sam as the chandelier began to shake.

"Nobody leaves this house!" Max shouted.

"And nobody has to, alright? They'll…They'll just go upstairs." Sam offered with his palms out. Dean and Penny shook their heads.

"No way am I leaving you alone with him."

"Dean's right, I can stay and help too!" Penny offered quickly, if things got out of hand then she could use her talent to help the situation if needs be.

Dean half turned and glared at her, "No."

"Yes you are, Penny no. Look Max, you're in charge here, we all know that. No one's going to do anything you don't want to but I'm talking five minutes here man." Sam pleaded with his eyes while Max considered it.

Penny looked up as the chandelier stopped shaking, "Five minutes. Go."

* * *

Dean offered a damp wash cloth to Mrs Miller before standing up and walking over to where Penny was leaning against the window.

"Electric shocks, huh?" Dean asked as he cocked an eyebrow at her.

Pennys mouth fell open in shock, "Guess so." She mumbled as she turned her gaze to the floor and looked at their feet. "But in my defence, I can control it."

"Control it? So that's why when I do this," He reached over and poked her cheek, "Nothing happens." She nodded and began to explain further.

"I think it's like an electrical current that runs through me." She pondered before twisting her body to face him properly. "When I make physical contact with someone, and depending on the power behind it, it can either be like an electric shock or it can feel like you were touched by a cattle prod at full charge."

She sighed and looked at her palms, "At the minute though it's pretty useless since I only know how to use it through my palms. The only time I've ever been able to charge it all over was..." She stopped herself and smiled up at Dean apologetically, "Well, it wasn't pretty."

They both looked up when the bedroom door slammed open to reveal Max with the gun floating in mid air, pointing at Mrs Miller.

"Max. No." She pleads through the flowing tears, Dean steps in front of her as the gun points at him.

"Dean!" Penny whispers harshly with fear in her voice.

"Stay back, it's not about you!" Max shouts at Dean as he cocks the gun.

"If you're going to kill her you gotta go through me first." Max smirks at Deans hero type behaviour.

"Okay." He sneered.

"No!" Penny shouted and lunged for Deans arm just as Sam burst through the door to see everyone still alive.

"No don't! Don't!" Penny stands defiantly beside Dean in front of Mrs Miller, "Please. Please. Max. Max. We can help you, all right, but this, what you're doing. It's not the solution. It's not going to fix anything." Sam panted while he watched Max.

He was a mess. Shaking, sweaty and in tears. He stares at Sam with the weight of the world upon his shoulders, when suddenly, he begins to relax and his face clears.

"You're right." He says calmly, Sam and Penny's shoulder droop as they think that he's finally seen sense. Sam smiles at him but Max turns away just as the gun swings to face him, and he shoots himself in the head.

"No!" Sam shouted as Mrs Miller shouted and Penny gasped in shock and repulsion.

"No," Sam says defeated.

* * *

The trio began walking down the garden pathway after questioning from the police. The story had been that Max turned up at the house with the gun, and Mrs Miller being the frightened woman rang her closest family friends; Penny, Dean and Sam.

"If I'd had just said something else, gotten through to him somehow." Sam lamented.

"Ah, don't do that." Dean whined, which earned a smack around the stomach from Penny.

"Shut up Dean," She whispered before turning to Sam, "It wouldn't have mattered. If you'd had grown up with an abusive family then maybe you would be the same; he was just sick of it Sam."

Dean nodded as they reached the Impala, "Pen's right, maybe if we'd gotten their 20 years earlier…" He lightly joked as they all climbed into the Impala.

Penny was folding her favourite baseball shirt into her bag when she felt someone watching her, placing it in neatly she spun around to see Dean look away quickly and busy himself; she watched him silently for a moment.

"If you want to try, just ask." She huffed and sat on the bed.

Deans eyes widened and he suddenly felt warmer, "Uhh, w-what?" He stumbled as he looked at her confused. He was pretty sure she wasn't thinking the same thing that he was.

She raised a brow, "You know…The shock thing?" She pressed. He grinned and laughed nervously as Sam stepped back in the room. Penny smiled brightly over at Sam, "Wanna watch Macho- man get shocked?" She asked brightly.

Sam glanced at a flushed Dean and smirked, "Sure, why not."

Jumping up from her seat she stood in front of Dean and raised her palm, "Just your finger, and lightly. Okay?" Dean nodded silently and poked her palm gently.

His eyes widened as he fell to his knees and doubled over in pain, screwing his eyes shut tightly he shook his head vigorously. Sam and Penny exchanged amused glances as Dean stood up with the help of a chair.

"Remind me, to never piss you off." He gasps out as laughter erupts from the pair.

"Dean," Penny giggles out, "That was only a light shock." She deadpans as Dean stares open mouthed at her. Seeing her amused reaction he quickly shuts his mouth and grabs his bag.

"Shouldn't we be heading off now? It's getting late!" He shouts over his shoulder as he makes his way to the Impala, leaving a highly amused Sam and Penny in his wake.

* * *

Sam glances into the backseat to see Penny fast asleep, she'd taken to wrapping herself in their jackets for car rides, and it hadn't escaped Sam's notice that it was Deans more often than not.

"Dean I've been thinking." He says as he sits back in his seat, eyes on the dark road ahead.

"Well that's never a good thing."

"I'm serious. I've been thinking, this demon, whatever it is. Why would it kill mom, Jessica, Max's mom and Penny's mom, you know? What does it want?"

"I have no idea." Dean sighed.

"Well, you think, maybe, it was after us? After Penny, Max and me?"

Dean looked at the backseat in his rearview mirror, "Why would you think that?"

Sam shrugged, "I mean, either telekinesis, premonitions or electrokinesis , we've all had abilities you know? Maybe he was after us for some reason."

"Sam, if it had wanted you, it would have just taken you. Ok? This is not your fault, it's not about you." Dean said exasperatedly.

"Then what is it about?" Sam asked tiredly, his voice raising.

Dean glared at Sam and motioned towards the backseat. "Sorry." Sam whispered.

Dean concentrated back on the road, "It's about this damn thing that did this to our family. This thing we're gonna find it and we're gonna kill it. And that's all."

Sam nodded and looked out of the window when a small smile spread across his features. "You know," He started with a teasing tone to his voice, "I don't think you and Penny were on about wanting to try the same thing back in the motel…"

Dean looked un-amused at Sam, who was grinning and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Shut your cakehole and go to sleep already." Dean mumbled as Sam laughed quietly.

**It's updated! I don't really like the scene at the house, my writing's gotten really shitty in the time I've been away. Let me know what you guys think with a review? **


	5. The Benders

**My longest chapter so far, woo! 4,174words…I'd be lying if I said I wasn't proud :)**

"So local police have ruled out foul play. Apparently, there are worse signs of a struggle." Sam read out, they were currently sat in Kugel's Keg reviewing a potential case. Penny took a swig of her beer and watched as Dean threw darts nearby.

"Worse signs of a struggle? So what, if the victim doesn't struggle enough they just _ignore _it?" She asked incredulously while Sam shrugged. Scoffing at his reaction she turned in her seat to look at Dean.

Feeling her stare he turned and half smirked, "Look I know it's hard to not stare, but these goods are made for touching – HEY!" He exclaimed through a laugh as Penny threw a balled up piece of paper at him. "I give! I give!" She smiled in triumph when he turned back to throwing darts.

"They could be right you know," he set the darts down and picked up his bottle, "it could just be a kidnapping. Maybe this isn't our kind of gig."

"Yeah maybe not." She decided, apart from the missing person there were no other supernatural things going on.

"Maybe. Except for this, Dad marked the area." Sam spun Johns journal to face the pair, "Possible hunting grounds of a phantom attacker." He smiled.

"I thought you said your dad only marked down patterns and things he knew about?" She looked up at Dean next to her, "Why would he even do that?" She asked Sam.

"Well, he found a lot of folklore about a dark figure that comes out at night. Grabs people then vanishes. He found this too-" He said while pointing at another piece of scrawled writing, "this country has more missing persons per capita than anywhere else in the state." He finished, leaning back on his seat.

Penny glanced between the two before settling her eyes back on the journal, "Okay that is kinda weird."

"So maybe this is our kind of gig," Dean said as he took a sip of his beer, "Maybe it's not. Look we'll ask around tomorrow." He stated while picking up the darts.

"Right," Sam nodded, "I think I saw a motel about five miles back."

Penny stood up and pulled her jacket on with Sam doing the same. "Woah, woah, easy. Let's have another round."

Penny quirked an eyebrow at Dean as she pulled her hair out of her jacket, "You can, but I'm going back to a motel with Sam." She spoke slightly louder than usual from the beers.

Dean blinked, "Well there's a sentence I never thought I'd hear." Dean threw his jacket on too, "And to be frank, I don't think I ever want to hear again." He added.

Penny laughed heartily at his worried expression, "Whatever, I'm going to the little girls room. Meet you two by the car?"

"Yeah okay, I gotta take a leak." Sam smiles and gathers the research while Dean and Penny head off towards the bathrooms.

Pushing the door open to the ladies she could feel a familiar grip on her elbow, she turned around to face a serious looking Dean. "I'll wait here for you, don't want you walking around by yourself here." She nodded obediently but rolled her eyes once he was gone.

* * *

Stepping out of the bathroom and into the hall she saw Dean leaning against the wall patiently. "Jeez, finally. What the hell did you do in there? Take down Darth Vader?" He joked as they walked out of the bar and towards the Impala.

"Haha very-" Her good mood turned sour when she spotted the journal alone on the hood of the car, "hey, where's Sam?" She asked quickly as her eyes scanned the parking lot. Dean had stormed off ahead and began looking around.

Seeing a biker and his girlfriend walk out she quickly jogged over to them and pulled a picture out of her purse of the three of them, "Hey have you seen this man?" She points to Sam, "He would have only been out here for around 10 minutes." She begs as they walk off, grunting a 'no' in response.

Her head whips around for a sign, anything, as her heart begins beating a hundred miles a minute. "Sam," She whispers as her eyes start to blur, what if this phantom attacker had gotten him? None of the missing persons ever came back. _Ever._ She thought, "Sam!" She shouted into the darkness as desperation took a hold of her.

* * *

Penny flicked through the newest copy of Vogue while Dean was in the Sheriff's office, she nearly keeled over laughing with fear when he told her his plan. That he was going to waltz into the building with a fake I.D pretending to be Sam's cousin, a cousin that was a cop. She'd convinced herself that he'd be caught. They'd have to search for Sam in the records which would bring up Dean's records. How would that work? From what she'd heard he was technically dead thanks to a shapeshifter.

She let out a frustrated puff of air when Dean walked out of the building, quickly climbing out of the car she ran across the road and met him at a bench.

"Anything?" She requested quickly as her eyes probed his.

"I don't know yet," Dean quickly gripped her hand tightly and pulled her onto the bench. "She believed my story though, evidently." He joked half-heartedly.

"There'll be something." She whispered and rubbed her thumb on the back of his hand comfortingly. Dean nods but doesn't say a word as he enjoys the moment of peace between them and the feel of Penny rubbing his hand.

"Greg?" A woman in her thirties stood in front of them, dropping hands quickly they stood up. "This is my fiancée, Penny." Dean lied easily, "She was with us last night when Sam disappeared."

Kathleen nodded and handed him a pile of photos, "Well I think we've got something," They started to flick through the surveillance photos, "These traffic cams take a photo every three seconds, as part of the Amber Alert Program. These images are all taken at around the time that your cousin, Sam, disappeared." She explained.

Dean tried to hide the disappointment from his face and voice, "These aren't really what I'm looking for."

"Just-Just, wait. Next one," Dean turns the page to see a picture of an old rusty truck driving. "This one was taken right after Sam left the bar. Look at the back end of that thing, now look at the plates." Pennys eyes widen slightly when she sees that the plates are new.

"So it's probably stolen."

Kathleen nodded, "So whoever's driving that truck must be involved."

Penny's head whips round when an old, beat up van drives by, it's engine whining loudly. "Hear that engine?" Dean asks.

Penny nods as she narrows her gaze at the driver who narrows his eyes back. "Sounds like a whining growl." She replied tightly.

"Well I'll be damned…" He murmured.

"Look we can go out and search some of the roads if you want, but it'll have to be tomorrow." She announces, drawing the pairs attention back to her.

"What? Why tomorrow?!" Penny pleaded, _Sam could be dead by tomorrow_ She thought as her stomach churned.

"I'm sorry Mrs Winchester but I have work that needs to be completed today," She looked sympathetically between the two, "if there were any way I could get out of it I would, but I can't."

They said their thanks as she headed back inside. Dean kept glancing in the way the van had drove off, Penny noticed and touched his arm gently. "Me and you could always try and follow it? I bet it couldn't have gotten far by now." She offered quietly.

He sighed and shook his head before looking down at the woman in front of him. "No it could have gone anywhere; we need the Sherriff and the cameras...Mrs Winchester." He smirked as he watched her blush slightly and punch his arm playfully. "Shut it, you." She mumbles as a police car speeds off with its siren on. He ran his hands over his face and glanced around one last time.

"I'm gonna go back in, see if I can persuade her. You go wait in the car and read that Mauve magazine of yours or something." Penny giggled slightly.

"You mean Vogue?" She smiled up at him and removed her hand.

"That's what I said!" He shouted over his shoulder.

Smiling, she watched his form retreat into the station before taking out her headphones and pressing play on the Abba album. Turning away she began walking towards the car when someone tapped her shoulder from behind, pressing pause she took her headphones out and turned around to face a weathered looking man in his thirties, smiling.

She smiled back until she heard Dean shout her name from the station. She just caught a glimpse of him and Kathleen running towards them when she was hit around the head and pulled backwards into a van.

"_DEAN!"_ She screamed as she struggled against the hold of the man, "Dean!" She cried out as the van door was slammed shut and the vehicle started driving.

"Let me go shitdick!" She shouted angrily while fighting against the hold, her eyes were blurring and her face hurt from the punch.

"Shut her up, Don." She gasped when something cold and hard hit the side of her head, and then, blackness.

* * *

Dean slowed to a stop after chasing the retreating van with Penny in it, the van that belonged to the people who took Sam too. He clutched his head with his hands and began looking around frantically.

"Come on," Kathleen was stood nearby, "if we go now we have a chance of catching them."

Dean breathed in deep and looked once more at the direction the van had disappeared in. "Damn right we will, let's go."

* * *

"Ow my head…" Penny moans quietly, "Dean?" She calls lightly but receives no answer. Her brows furrow as she lifts her head to look around and remembers what happened. Trying to move she realises that she's tied to a chair in what looks to be a bedroom, shuffling she tries to get loose but to no avail.

"Pretty lady, you're awake." Penny's head snapped to the doorway where a young girl stood, she was filthy and dressed in rags. She watched as she placed a dress on the bed and grinned maliciously at her. "Daddy or uncle will be here soon to dress you and make you look pretty."

Penny's eyes widened in fear, waiting until the girl had left she tried to struggle free again. _Oh God what the hell have I landed in? _She cried out silently, _Maybe Sam's here. It was a similar van, I think._ She glanced around, "Sam?" She whispered loudly, "Sam can you hear me?"

"Who're you talkin' to?" A grubby, and smelly looking man in his late thirties leaned against the doorway.

Penny didn't say anything, she stared and watched him as he moved into the room and shut the door. He glanced over at her and then looked at the dress on the bed, "You know, pa wants me to make you look purdy, you gotta look purdy for pa, mama." He glanced towards the door and inched slightly closer. "But I think I'm wanting to keep you to myself." He whispered before bursting into hysterics.

"I'm not your mama –" She spat viciously, fear and disgust was written all over her face which only added to his entertainment.

"Oh I know you ain't my mama," He laughed, "But you gonna be my new baby brother and sisters mama." Her determined face fell at the insinuation, "Pa gonna make beautiful babies with you!" Her face paled and she suddenly began to feel sick to her stomach.

"Jared!" A voice from downstairs cuts off the manic laughter, "Yeah pa?" He shouted back.

"Hurry up dressin' 'er, will ya? I'm getting' impatient down here!"

Penny squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think of a way out of this, how was Dean going to find her when even she didn't know where she was? Her eyes snapped open when cloth was tied around mouth to stop her from talking., she watched and planned silently as he began to untie her legs and hands.

"Before you get any ideas pretty," He pointed to the wall behind her, turning slowly she saw a severed head displayed proudly on a wall plaque as if it was wild buck. Her hand flew to her mouth while he laughed wickedly, "now take off those clothes so we can dress you properly." He ordered.

She sat in the chair, staring straight ahead. She heard his boots cross the room loudly before feeling the back of his hand against her face. Whimpering slightly, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her up before pulling her clothes off, leaving her in nothing but her underwear.

* * *

Dean treads carefully as to not make any noise, the barn had wire and pipes everywhere, not to mention the huge pile of faeces that was stinking away in the corner. He rounded a corner to face two rather large cages.

"Sam?" Dean walks forward to see his brother through the cage bars, "Are you hurt?"

"No." Sam sighed in relief that it was his brother. Dean banged against the cage loudly in joy, "Damn, it's good to see you!" He beamed easily.

"How did you get out of the cuffs?" Dean spun around to see Kathleen sitting in a similar cage, his smile quickly faded when he couldn't see any more cages. "I know a trick or two." He said off-handishly as he stalked forward again to look for more cages.

"Dean? What's-"

"Penny's not here." He whispered to himself, but Sam caught it.

"They got Penny? She hasn't been brought here." He pondered for a second, "Maybe there's another barn like this one."

Dean shook his head, "Nah I would have seen it." He mumbled before standing in front of the locks to the cage, "Oh these look like they're gonna be a bitch."

"Well there's some kind of automatic control right there." Sam pointed to the control panel he'd seen them use before. Dean wandered over and started hitting buttons.

"Have you seen 'em?" Dean questioned while flicking switches.

Sam scoffed, "Yeah. Dude, they're just people." Sam watched as Dean looked at him humorously.

"And they jumped you?" Dean shook his head, "Must be gettin' a little rusty there kiddo'." He frowned when none of the buttons were working, "What do they want?"

"I don't know," Sam started, "They let Jenkins go, but that was some sort of trap. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Well that's the point. You know," He eyed Kathleen, "with our usual playmates there's rules, patterns. But with people, they're just crazy."

Dean points to the control panel, "This thing takes a key. Key?"

"I don't know." Sam replies quickly.

"Alright, well I'm gonna go find it and see if I can see Penny around anywhere too." He says as he turns to leave.

"Hey," Dean stops and turns around. "Be careful." Sam says softly.

"Yeah." He says before leaving.

* * *

Penny could feel a tear fall down her cheek as he stood inches in front of her, blocking her from getting to the dress. Her body ached from trying to fight past him, only to be pushed backwards or slammed into a wall. His gaze was hungry and filled with lust as he stared at her chest, her skin crawled as his rough, dirty hands groped and felt her soft skin.

"Pa won't mind…" He mumbles to himself before clutching her to him and pressing his cracked lips on hers. Penny squeezed her eyes shut and swiftly kneed him in the crotch. Gasping, he stumbled backwards to catch his breath. Penny grabbed the dress from behind her to only have it snatched and threw into the hall with the rest of her clothes.

"You're gonna wish you didn't do that bitch!" He ground out angrily and stormed forward.

"Daddy!" Missy screams from downstairs, "Daddy!" She shouts again. Jared mumbles angrily and pushes her onto the bed before turning and locking the door on his way out.

* * *

Dean grumbles as he comes too, his hands and feet were tied to a chair in a living room, and his head hurt something bad from the frying pan he took to the head.

"Come on pa, let's hunt him." He heard one voice say from the right.

"Yeah this one's a fighter. Sure would be fun to hunt." Another voice says.

"Oh you gotta be kiddin' me. That's what this is about? You yahoo's hunt people?"

Pa eyed him, "You ever killed before?"

"Well, that depends on what you mean." Dean replied sarcastically.

"I've hunted all my life. Just like my father, his before him. I've hunted deer and bear—I even got a cougar once. But the best hunt is human. Oh, there's nothin' like it. Holdin' their life in your hands. Seein' the fear in their eyes just before they go dark. Makes you feel powerful. Alive."

"You're a sick puppy." Dean spat out at him, his face contorted in disgust.

"We give 'em a weapon. Give 'em a fightin' chance. It's kind of like our tradition passed down, father to son. Of course, only one or two a year. Never enough to bring the law down, we never been that sloppy." Pa smirked as his boys grinned with pride.

"Yeah, well, don't sell yourself short. You're plenty sloppy." Deans face hardened, "Like picking up a girl in front of a police station. Not a very smart move."

Pa's face fell before glowing red with anger, "Speaking of which," Dean continued, "Where is she?" He growled.

They laughed, "Well she's upstairs right now, waiting for me." Pa looked up, "We're gonna make beautiful babies me and her. She's so young and beautiful," He looked at Dean's seething expression "so much so that maybe I'll let my boys have her after to give me some gran'babies." He laughed viciously.

"If you've touched even a _hair_ on her head I swear to God –"

"She has such soft skin," Jared started, "warm and silky, and her lips are so-"

"Jared!" Pa shouted, Jared looked over and quietened.

"Tell me, any of the cops gonna come lookin' for ya?" Pa asked as he grabbed a hot poker from the fireplace.

"Oh, eat me." Dean spoke forcefully, "Oh no, no, no wait – you actually might." He joked at their expense as Jared walked behind Dean and held his head in place.

"You think this is funny? You brought this down on my family. Alright, you wanna play games? We'll play some games. Looks like we're gonna have a hunt tonight after all, boys." He looked at Dean, "And you get to pick the animal." Pa grinned maliciously, "The boy, or the cop?"

Deans eyes widened slightly, "Okay, wait, wait—look, nobody's comin' for me, alright? It's just us." He begged.

Pa edged closer with the hot poker, "You don't chose, I will."

Dean tenses as the poker edges closer until he can feel the heat burning through his shirt and into his skin. Screaming out in pain he clenches his teeth as Pa removes the poker. "Oh you son of a bitch!" He gasps through clenched teeth.

Pa places the poker inches away from Dean's right eye, "Next time, I'll take an eye." He threatens.

Dean thought quickly, "Okay! Okay take the guy! The guy!" Jared let go of Deans head and Pa moves the poker back to the fireplace, his muscles relax slightly but tense back up when he sees Pa remove a key from around his neck and pass it to Lee.

"Lee, go do it. Don't let him out though, shoot him in the cage." Lee walks out the door as Dean faltered.

"What? I thought you said you weren't going to hurt him. You were gonna give him a chance!"

"Lee, when you're done with the boy, shoot the bitch cop too." Dean watches with wide eyes as Lee leaves with his rifle in hand. "Better clean this mess up before any more cops come runnin' out here." He sighs, while Deans eyes scanned the floor in desperation.

* * *

Sam sits up when one of the men walk to the control panel and place a key in it, "What are you doing?" He asks warily. He hears the door to his cage unlock as the man walks towards him. Sam see's the bracket out of the corner of his eye and grabs it, prepared for when the door to his cage opens.

* * *

Deans head snapped up when a gunshot rings through the silence, "You hurt my brother, I'll kill you, I swear. I'll kill you all." Pa stands up and walks towards the front door, "I'll kill you all!" Dean shouts after him.

"Lee!" Pa shouts out the front door and listens for a minute but hears no reply. Pa turned around quickly and pointed to Jared, "Jared, you come with me. Missy, you watch him now." Dean watches helplessly as Jared grabs two rifles and hands one to Pa as they both leave. His eye swivel round to look at Missy, who was now holding a knife dangerously close to his eye.

* * *

Sam bursts into the living room to see Dean wrestling a knife out of a little girls hand and frowns in confusion. Dean smiles slightly at Sam and gestures upstairs with his chin, "Penny's upstairs I think!"

Sam nods and leaves Dean to deal with the girl while he raced upstairs, taking two at a time. Once he reached the landing he looked down the hall, there was only one room with a shut door. Trying the handle he sighed in frustration when he found it was locked.

He leant against the door, "Penny?" No answer. "Penny it's me Sam, can you hear me?" He pressed his ear to the door.

"…Sam? Sam I'm in here!" She banged against the door.

"Okay, step beck I'm gonna try and bust the door down." Nodding to herself she quickly stepped behind the bed and crouched down. She flinched when the door fell loudly against the hard wooden floors. Opening her eyes she peeked over the side of the bed before running into Sams chest and hugging him tightly.

Sam gulped his fear down as he placed his arms around the half-naked woman. "Pen…Where are your clothes?" She shook her head in his chest. Glancing around he couldn't see them so instead shrugged off his plaid shirt and placed it around her, buttoning it up to cover her bruised body; he smiled inwardly when he noticed it reached her knees.

"Come on, we gotta go." He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her with him downstairs to where Dean was waiting with Kathleen.

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs the walked into the living room to see that it was empty, Sam led her outside to see Dean and Kathleen waiting patiently. Penny would be lying if she said she didn't breathe easier seeing Dean, she'd also be lying if she said that she wanted nothing more than to just sleep for the rest of the month.

Dean glanced over before doing a double take when he saw Penny in Sam's shirt. Automatically his brain jumped to the worst possible scenario that could have happened, _'No'._ "What happened?" His voice boomed.

As soon as they were down the porch steps Penny dropped Sam's hand and speed walked into Dean. Her arms encircled his waist as she breathed in his scent, the one that was so distinctly him, and relaxed slightly. Dean quickly responded by gathering her into his arms and holding her tightly.

'What happened?' He mouthed at Sam, who mouthed back a silent 'I don't know'. Dean nodded and closed his eyes, resting his head atop hers.

**I hope no one was too OC in this? Let me know if you guys liked it with a review :D**


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